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Northern Lights and Chena Hot Springs Tour from Fairbanks
Badge of ExcellenceFairbanks, USA
- 10 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
This small group guided tour from Fairbanks takes you to Chena Hot Springs Resort for an exciting but relaxing array of activities. Discover eye-popping sculptures at the on-site Aurora Ice Museum, home to intricately carved sculptures, and then unwind in the resort’s legendary hot mineral springs, hot tubs or indoor pool. If the conditions are right your guide will advise you of the best locations to watch view the ethereal northern lights. Chena Hot Springs is one of the best viewing locations in the area, and even magical when it appears overhead while soaking in the hot springs.
- Small-group tour to Chena Hot Springs Resort and the Aurora Ice Museum
- Soak in the outdoor hot mineral springs, hot tubs, or indoor pool
- See the aurora borealis at one of the best viewing locations in the area
- Round-trip transport from Fairbanks and North Pole hotels provided
What's Included
- Local Guide
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Access to Chena Hot Springs Resort's hot springs, hot tubs and swimming area
- Gratuities
- Food & drinks
- Towels (available for $5 from the hot springs or you can bring your own)
Meeting and Pickup
Pickup points
Select a pickup point
Start time
04:00 PM
Pickup details
We will contact you the day before your tour with your exact pickup time. Pickups will occur between 4pm and 5pm, dependent upon location (unless in North Pole where it may be earlier). We can only pick up from hotels within the Fairbanks or North Pole city limits. We do not pick up from the airport. If you are staying at an Air BnB, please contact us directly for the closest pick up location. If you are staying outside the city limits, we can pick you up at Walmart or another hotel location. Please call our office to discuss what options are available.
What To Expect
After evening pickup from your Fairbanks or North Pole hotel, sit back and enjoy the leisurely drive to the Chena Hot Springs Resort, approximately 60 miles east of Fairbanks. Keep your eye out as you might spot fox, beaver, or moose along the way.
Upon arrival, be taken on a guided tour of the Aurora Ice Museum. Marvel at life-sized ice sculptures and perhaps indulge in an appletini in hand-carved ice glass (optional-not included in price).
You’ll then be escorted to a table in the restaurant for dinner (optional-not included in price) where you can enjoy some Alaskan seafood and locally grown vegetables among the variety of dishes available.
For the rest of the evening, put on your bathing suit and work on loosening those knots in your back. Slip into the hot springs, which swirl with lake water averaging 106 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius) all year. Escape to an outdoor hot tub and unwind under the stars. A heated indoor pool is also available.
Then, dress warmly and venture outside to look above for the northern lights if they appear (not guaranteed). Chena Hot Springs is a great spot to witness the green and purple ribbons of light dancing in the sky. If you prefer to be indoors, you can grab a warm beverage to wrap your hands around and view the action from inside the Aurora Café.
Afterwards, be transported back to your hotel, making stops along the way, if safe to do so, to see more of the northern lights, if they are still active.
Upon arrival, be taken on a guided tour of the Aurora Ice Museum. Marvel at life-sized ice sculptures and perhaps indulge in an appletini in hand-carved ice glass (optional-not included in price).
You’ll then be escorted to a table in the restaurant for dinner (optional-not included in price) where you can enjoy some Alaskan seafood and locally grown vegetables among the variety of dishes available.
For the rest of the evening, put on your bathing suit and work on loosening those knots in your back. Slip into the hot springs, which swirl with lake water averaging 106 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius) all year. Escape to an outdoor hot tub and unwind under the stars. A heated indoor pool is also available.
Then, dress warmly and venture outside to look above for the northern lights if they appear (not guaranteed). Chena Hot Springs is a great spot to witness the green and purple ribbons of light dancing in the sky. If you prefer to be indoors, you can grab a warm beverage to wrap your hands around and view the action from inside the Aurora Café.
Afterwards, be transported back to your hotel, making stops along the way, if safe to do so, to see more of the northern lights, if they are still active.
Aurora Ice Museum
45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included
Chena Hot Springs Resort
6 hours • Admission Ticket Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Wheelchair accessible
- Transportation is wheelchair accessible
- The outside rock pool is only allowed for adults 18 years and up. However, children are allowed in the inside pool.
- Pregnant travelers are not allowed in the outside rock pool.
- We have enough room for a foldable wheelchair. The hot springs are wheelchair accessible.
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
- For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
- If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
- Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
- Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
- This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.
Traveler Photos
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Reviews
4.5
841 reviews
Shirlee_Y, Apr 2024
I've never been to Alaska before. I'm from Seattle so I'm familiar with tall evergreens but the tour to the Chena Hot Springs was crazy beautiful, the hills of beautiful trees everywhere you look.
The springs themselves were great. Just hot enough to not be too hot, out under the stars in the cold night
Dana_H, Apr 2024
Gavin was an amazing tour guide. Very knowledgeable about everything he was asked. This was a great experience!
IG_A, Apr 2024
Well organized tour with safe driver. Maybe too much time in the hot springs if you don't choose the dinner option but there is a bar! We ended up not seeing the northern lights this night (29 March) but had great conversations with other participants.
Lorelli_A, Apr 2024
Gavin was great and knowledgeable! He was punctual and shared great information. My husband have mobility challenges and he was very accommodating of our needs. We were so happy that my husband was able to go out of the van to see the aurora borealis and have our pictures taken! I will definitely recommend this tour to friends and family.
Julia_D, Apr 2024
I had a great experience with this tour company! I was traveling solo and met so many other kind solo female travelers. Jared and Logan, our guides, were so kind and thoughtful and incredibly knowledgeable on the aurora. The night we were there, we saw an amazing display, it was really dancing in the sky. We stayed at the Chena Hot Springs resort until 12 but then Jared, who was driving my group, pulled over to the side of the road on the way back so we could continue to watch the lights. He even took out his camera and took pictures of us in front of the aurora that were amazing quality. Just an overall amazing experience and you can tell these two tour guides are very passionate about what they do! The hot springs are also beautiful, I really enjoyed them and the ice museum.
Fuheng_C, Mar 2024
I like this tour. We are not confident to drive in winter Alaska. So we choose tours. Good things: 1. Chena hot spring is good and comfortable. 2. The predicted KP index was 1 at that night. But our guide still took us to many places to find the aurora. And we did see the light! Bad things: 1. The ice museum is boring… 2. The restaurant waiting time is very long and the food is just normal… But our main goal is the hot spring. And the restaurant is optional. So I still like the tour very much.
Valerie_P, Mar 2024
This 'resort' has been riden hard and put away wet. Probably nice 30 years ago but not a penny has been spent since then keeping it up. The activities center was dirty and had electrical hanging out all over, plants presumably waiting to grow on the tables, a jammed, tiny sort of gift/food to go shop with a line out the door. Moving on, the 'ice palace' was awful. First of all, most if not all of the displays were broken or partially melted. I guess they had a power outage and it was closed for a while but it was just not even partially worth it and because the network/computers were out they couldnt even sell the highly touted martinis.
The network was down so no dinners were happening until they figured out some manual ways of doing things (i assume this happens often out in the middle of nowwhere so a plan might be appropriate?).
In late March there were still xmas decorations (plastic trees etc.) still up. Tacky
Dinner was good and the wait staff was attentive and though understaffed this was the highlight.
The locker rooms were dirty, hot and poorly vented. Seriously after spending $100+ each you had to pay quarters to put your stuff in lockers.
The indoor 'pool' and hot tub had about 30 screaming kids - move along.
The outdoor hot tub was jammed.
The outdoor hot pool was ok. Who knows it was so dark ... but you could feel the slime on the rock walls ... No place to hang towels. Nothing like the springs in Iceland, Croatia, New Zealand - just meh
A place in need of being purchased by someone who cares and remodels it to be what its talked up to be in all the brochures.
Response from Host, Mar 2024
Valerie,
We apologize that the Chena Hot Springs Resort did not live up to your expectations. We take the feedback about our partner businesses very seriously, and we promise you that we will forward your concerns to the management at Chena Hot Springs. Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback.
Rainer_L, Mar 2024
Name of this tour pretty much sums it up. We enjoyed the hot springs and were blown away by the northern lights. The ice museum was fun, the restaurant was overcrowded/understaffed and in our view overpriced for the food quality
Elisa_S, Mar 2024
The Ice Museum was a very cool experience. The hot springs definitely lived up to their name. Ans we had a great light show from the northern lights. I would skip the restaurant though. Food was decent, but it took over an hour for our table to get one order of fish and chips and two salads. The table behind us got their food, ate and paid before we got our food. And we ordered at the same time.
Lesley_A, Mar 2024
Our guide was Logan. He picked us up on time in a large, comfortable van with 10 other people. He talked thru a bluetooth microphone during the ride so that everyone could hear. I feel like this tour is well worth the money considering all that we did. The only thing that we paid for out of pocket was our dinner and drinks. Everything else was included. It took about an hour and 15 minutes to arrive at Chena Hot Springs Resort. Once we got there, we visited the Ice Museum and had an Appletini in an ice glass, then we had a nice sit down dinner, then we had about an hour at the Hot Springs ( I could only handle about 40 minutes in the water), then we watched the Northern Lights (we were so lucky) until about 12:30am before we loaded back in the van and headed back to town. I enjoyed seeing the Northern Lights the most as they had an indoor, heated room with a large window so that you could stay warm while waiting for the Aurora. Logan was a great guide and even ran to the can to get my husband’s backpack for him. Would highly recommend booking this experience!
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Northern Lights and Chena Hot Springs Tour from Fairbanks
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